Nice to meet you: Hajiji (right) welcoming Rumsey to his office. Looking on is Kugan.
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is now poised to sell carbon credits through the Kuamut Rainforest Conservation Project (KRCP) which involves the protection and restoration of 83,381ha of tropical rainforests.
The first tranche of the verified carbon units (VCU) involving the forest areas situated in Tongod and Kinabatangan districts is now ready for trading after it met with the internationally recognised standards for Climate, Community and Biodiversity Progress.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor was briefed yesterday by Permian Global chairman Stephen Rumsey on the report that verified KRCP met the international standards to generate the first tranche for carbon trade.
Permian Malaysia, a subsidiary of Permian Global, is in partnership with the Sabah Forestry Department and Yayasan Sabah to undertake the conservation initiative.
Hajiji said the KRCP reflects how the public and private sector can work together in a “transparent and impactful” way to engage and empower local community participation from the outset.
“Sabah is renowned for her biodiverse forests and it is important that we do whatever is needed to preserve this. I want us to build on the KRCP achievement, to protect as much of our forest as we can, and to lead the world in high-impact, scientifically robust conservation efforts that not only benefits nature but also the state and the people,” he said in a statement released here.
Permian Global has provided investment for the project and also involved state authorities and the scientific and community partners, the South East Asia Rainforest Research Partnership (SEARRP) and community-focused organisation, the PACOS Trust.
Also present at the briefing were Permian Malaysia chief executive officer Ivy Wong Abdillah, Yayasan Sabah director Datuk Ghulam Haidar Khan Bahadar, Sabah Chief Conservator of Forests Datuk Frederick Kugan.
The KRCP is set to become the first carbon trading project from Sabah.
It (KRCP) now overshadows the controversial Nature Conservation Agreement (NCA) that involved two million hectares of the state’s totally protected forests to harness carbon trade.
The 2021 deal between the state government and a Singapore-based company remains on the table but has yet to make progress as the company involved, Hoch Standard Pte Limited, needs to furnish further documents to the state Attorney General.
The requirement was part of the state’s “due diligence” process to ascertain the company’s professional capacity to undertake such a large and complex project.
The Forestry Department has also allocated 190,051ha of totally protected forest for the company to carry out its pilot programme to harness carbon credit.
